Across the country, political outsiders and party establishment favorites are facing off in a variety of high-profile races, including many contests to fill open U.S. Senate seats.

A Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance data maintained by the Federal Election Commission shows how candidates are taking different approaches in different races.

Some, such as Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Florida’s Marco Rubio, are being propelled by enthusiastic support from “small donors.” Others, however, are relying on big money from political action committees or wealthy individuals.

Here is an overview of six races:

In Florida, individual donors account for about 95 percent of the more than $10 million in the war chest of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who last week declared he would skip the GOP primary and run as an independent for the Sunshine State’s open Senate seat. Yet less than 1 percent of this overall haul comes from small donors who give $200 or less, the threshold used by the Federal Election Commission for itemized disclosure.

Rubio, a Republican whose bid forced Crist out of the GOP field has, by contrast, raised 37 percent of his funds from donors who gave $200 or less. Rubio, overall, has raised $7 million through March, and about 96 percent of his campaign funds have come from individual donors who gave any amount.

Democrat Kendrick Meek, meanwhile, has raised $5.7 million through March, with about 80 percent coming from individuals — and 7 percent of the overall amount coming from small donors.

Of these three candidates, Meek has raised the most from political action committees, at 20 percent, while Crist has raised 5 percent of his money from PACs and Rubio has raised about 1 percent of his funds from these special interest groups.

In Kentucky, Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul is following in his father’s fund-raising footsteps.

Through March, 52 percent of all of Rand Paul’s nearly $2.4 million has come from individuals who gave $200 or less. Furthermore, less than 0.4 percent of Rand Paul’s war chest has come from PACs.

Republican Trey Grayson, the favorite Senate candidate of the Bluegrass State’s GOP establishment, has relied on PACs for about 17 percent of his $2.4 million raised, while small donors have accounted for about 7 percent of his total funds.

On the Democratic side in Kentucky, Attorney General Jack Conway has relied on donations exceeding $200 for his $2.6 million war chest. Small donors and PACs alike each account for between 3 and 4 percent of his war chest. He has also invested about $144,000 of his personal funds for the race.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, who will face Conway in the primary on May 18, meanwhile, has raised 11 percent of his funds from small donors and 2 percent of his money from PACs. Through March, Mongiardo reported raising about $1.8 million.

In Missouri, Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan has collected 20 percent of her $5.5 million war chest from small donors, while Republican Roy Blunt has raised about 5 percent of his funds from individuals who give $200 or less. Blunt, meanwhile has relied on PACs to a much greater extent, pulling in about 27 percent of his total $6 million haul from PACs. Carnahan has raised about 14 percent of her money from these groups.

In Illinois and Ohio, the Republican Senate candidates have likewise relied more heavily on money from PACs than their Democratic counterparts.

In Illinois, Rep. Mark Kirk has collected more than 15 percent of his about $6.7 million from PACs, while 7 percent of his funds have come from individuals giving $200 or less.

Kirk’s Democratic opponent, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, has relied on PACs for just 4 percent of his campaign contributions, and small donors have accounted for 5 percent of his total $4.8 million raised.

In Ohio, former George W. Bush cabinet official and former Rep. Rob Portman has raised about 16 percent of his funds from political action committees. Small donors account for about 7 percent of Portman’s $8.7 million war chest.

Portman’s Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, has also gotten about 5 percent of his support from small donors. PAC contributions account for just 6 percent of Fisher’s $4 million raised.

In Connecticut, former World Wrestling Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Linda McMahon has sunk more than $14.5 million of her own money into her face and has pledged to spend up to $50 million. She also pledged to accept only campaign contributions of $100 or less, and so far, such contributions account for about 0.1 percent of her war chest.

Through March, McMahon reported raising just $17,000 in individual contributions — less than the nationwide median of $20,500 that the National Institute on Money in State Politics calculated was raised by state house candidates in the 2008 election cycle. McMahon has not accepted any PAC money.

Her main Republican primary opponents include economist Peter Schiff and former Rep. Rob Simmons.

About 31 percent of Schiff’s $2.5 million in campaign funds has come from small donors giving $200 or less, and about 0.1 percent of his funds have come from PACs.

About 22 percent of the $2.9 million Simmons has raised, meanwhile, has come from small donors. About 2 percent of his money has come from political action committees.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who will be the Democrat vying to replace retiring incumbent Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, has raised about $1.9 million through March.

Of this sum, 12 percent has come from political action committees and about 4 percent has come from small donors.

Here is a chart outlining how much money these candidates have raised, including the percentage from all individuals, percentage of just large donors who gave more than $200, percentage of small donors who gave $200 or less, percentage raised from PACs and their final cash on hand figure at the end of the first quarter of 2010.

Name

State

Party

Raised

% All Indivs

% Large Indivs

% Small Indivs

% PAC

Cash on Hand

Linda McMahon

CT

R

$14,575,232

0.1%

0%

0.1%

0%

$4,302,202

Rob Simmons

CT

R

$2,898,392

92%

69%

22%

2%

$1,416,432

Peter Schiff

CT

R

$2,549,229

78%

47%

31%

0.1%

$1,228,710

Richard Blumenthal

CT

D

$1,880,040

88%

84%

4%

12%

$1,601,813

Charlie Crist

FL

I

$10,156,046

95%

94%

0.8%

5%

$7,631,858

Marco Rubio

FL

R

$7,038,410

96%

59%

37%

1%

$3,906,094

Kendrick Meek

FL

D

$5,715,189

79%

72%

7%

20%

$3,724,599

Mark Kirk

IL

R

$6,665,711

84%

77%

7%

15%

$3,015,943

Alexi Giannoulias

IL

D

$4,783,438

95%

90%

5%

4%

$1,221,628

Jack Conway

KY

D

$2,552,082

91%

87%

4%

3%

$1,324,783

Trey Grayson

KY

R

$2,436,081

83%

76%

7%

17%

$1,130,100

Rand Paul

KY

R

$2,391,226

99%

47%

52%

0.4%

$395,559

Daniel Mongiardo

KY

D

$1,787,440

98%

87%

11%

1.8%

$795,903

Roy Blunt

MO

R

$5,959,444

67%

62%

5%

27%

$3,426,551

Robin Carnahan

MO

D

$5,519,682

82%

63%

20%

14%

$2,844,520

Rob Portman

OH

R

$8,741,545

80%

73%

7%

15%

$7,683,103

Lee Fisher

OH

D

$3,955,729

93%

88%

5%

6%

$906,738

Methodological note: The campaign finance numbers presented in this chart came from the Federal Election Commission’s candidate summary data downloaded on May 3. All numbers except Ohio numbers are through March 31. Ohio numbers are through April 14, based on the pre-primary election campaign finance filing deadline.

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